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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29930487">Thorns and Roses</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FalconPoof/pseuds/FalconPoof'>FalconPoof</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comfort, Dandelions, Developing Friendships, Dream World, Flower Crowns, Flowers, Friendship, Gen, Grass fields, Mystery, Not Romance, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Original Universe, POV Third Person, Tags May Change, Work In Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:14:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29930487</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FalconPoof/pseuds/FalconPoof</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An impossible gate, thorns and roses wrapped around the bars. Behind it lay a mysterious world with an ususual yet friendly face.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Thorns and Roses</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a full-on story idea I came up with and have already started work on ideas and potential plot points for the future. I'm very proud of this one, and while I'm not great with chapter-based stories, I believe my interest in this idea will help my drive through this.<br/>Updates will release as soon as possible once I finish the chapters. I work on these at school, so my main worry is that once school is over (June-July), I will have no time to work on this since I struggle with stories while I'm at home. Alongside that is the fact that I'm in the final year of my secondary education, so after that I may have a long time without any progress.<br/>Nevertheless, I deeply hope you enjoy! I'm really looking forward to my progression on this story, and I hope you end up wanting more too.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The soft pitter-patter of the rain hits against the top of an umbrella, hurried footsteps charging through puddles to escape the rain. The air was chilled, cold enough to push through the thick layers of clothing. Water splashed and drenched their calf, no matter how fast they ran.</p><p>The sun sat behind layers of thick, grey clouds; not allowing any beams of visible light to penetrate to the surface. The city streets lay quiet, the only sound coming from the thundering of the rain clouds. If the chance wasn’t so low, they would’ve believed they were the only person outside right now, and that includes cars. They’d ran far from the busier areas of the city, just looking for some kind of shelter as they charged onwards across the narrow path with no shelter in sight.</p><p>Though as they ran, they slowly began to realise that there was an oncoming scent in the direction they were going. It was difficult to notice at first, but as the scent got stronger, its identity was slowly revealed: Flowers. The scent was surely unusual, how on earth could the smell of flowers reach so far? This smell typically came when a flower was directly underneath your nose, and the specific flower was indeterminate.</p><p>As the aroma grew closer, they noticed their legs seemed to be drying, and their body was rapidly warming up, as if they were sitting by a campfire. Suddenly, they felt the urge to stop running, despite the crashes of the rain around them. There was an unusual comfort in the air now, like the rain and cold wasn’t even there. The road had stretched itself into a straight path with the city buildings far in the distance behind him, and a complete emptiness before him. To the left, there was just empty, barren land that stretched on for miles. To the right, there was something more than just unusual. To the right stood a large, metal gate. Overgrown red roses and thorns entwined the bars, and the top of the bars were finished with cone-shaped spikes. It was quiet menacing, but the aroma seemed to be emanating from behind the gate. Maybe it was some kind of trap? The gate had no discernible markings or symbols, making it completely unknown if it belong to anyone. To the left and right of the gate, there was nothing, not even any kind of fence. It was just a gate by itself. Scarily, even though there were gaps between the bars and plants, they couldn’t see past them. It wasn’t darkness, it’s more as if their mind was actively avoiding the space between the bars, acting as if it didn’t exist.</p><p>They stepped towards the gate, umbrella tightly gripped in on hand and reaching towards the gate with the other. If it was a trap, it was going to work. With their hand less than an inch before the gate, it suddenly opened, and the sight behind it was certainly one to behold.</p><p>Lands of green and fields of flowers, all in bloom. The grass stretched on for seemingly forever, and all different types of flowers stood proudly. With a step through the gate, they instinctively closed their umbrella, as if walking into the comfortable clutches of their own home. The tall grass stood all the way past their feet, and the most obvious change of all, the clouds had completely vanished alongside the rain. It was a beautiful, shining day. </p><p>They took a few more steps in, feeling the warmth of the sun on their face and the rain in their clothes fade away. Turning around to see the gate once more, they’d discovered that the gate had completely vanished, trapping them in this world. In its place there was a makeshift path, dictated by the perfectly cut grass leading away from them.</p><p>Why had the rain stopped so quickly? Why was the scent of the flowers so strong? Why had it suddenly gotten so warm? With nowhere else to go, they followed the path. Rows of spaced-out flowers stood bountiful in the tall grass around them, all perfect colours with no signs of decay. As more field passed over the horizon, they noticed a tree far in the distance, the only one in the visible area.</p><p>Running quickly, they followed the path towards the tree, the soft yet warm breeze of the rich air gliding across their face. The sun hung high in the sky, illuminating the fields wonderfully. Finally, they reached the tree. The grass around it was perfectly cut in a circle, just like the path. Falling to their knees, they took a moment to compose themselves, completely out of breath from all the running. They didn’t even know why they had decided to run so far. Looking down at the comfortable ground beneath their knees, they panted deeply, trying to regain their strength back.</p><p>Out of nowhere, a hand gently touched his head, making them look up at the source immediately… Only to find nobody there. Looking back down, they noticed someone stood up and leaning down right on the other side of them.</p><p>They jumped away in surprise, landing on their back. “Oh!”</p><p>The sudden stranger leapt back too, frightened. “S-Sorry!”</p><p>They sat there, startled, unsure what to say as they looked up at the sudden boy before them. They were wearing what appeared to be a green-buttoned up shirt under a blank, darker green gardening apron, and shorts which were the same shade of green. Around their golden, blond hair sat a flower crown of various colourful purple and pink flowers. With gentle, sky-blue eyes and a soft expression, they didn’t seem all too dangerous despite the unusual circumstances. They seemed to be the same age as him, maybe younger, but his appearance was way gentler.</p><p>The two stayed awkwardly still, unsure what to do. The flower boy finally spoke up, standing upright and folding his arms. “H-Hello? What’s your name?” He asked nervously, trying to put on a smile.</p><p>“It’s… Phoebe.” He said, calming down. Phoebe felt weird about it, he felt compelled to tell this complete stranger his name, even though they had just met. Maybe it was his friendly exterior? This world was so peaceful, it felt as if nothing bad could ever happen here. Reaching up to fix his hair, he noticed he suddenly had his own flower crown made of daisies and tulips.</p><p>“Aww, that’s a lovely name!” The boy sprouted out with gleefully. “My name is Dandelion! I came up with it myself because it’s my favourite flower.”</p><p>Phoebe sat there bewildered, unsure what to make of the situation and the world around him. “…My mother came up with my name.” He said simply, stating the seemingly obvious.</p><p>“Really? I haven’t met one of those before.” Dandelion replied back, a peaceful smile on his face.</p><p>“You haven’t met your own mother?” Phoebe replied back, confused and concerned, adjusting his flower crown.</p><p>“I don’t think so… I’ve always lived here with my friends around this tree.” He stated, more carefree than you’d expect from someone talking about their lack of parents. “Maybe I could meet yours!”</p><p>“M-Maybe…” Phoebe replied, finally standing to his feet. It took a moment of consideration, but he realised the “friends” he was talking about was in fact the flowers all around the tree. Dandelion seemed really cheery for someone supposedly so lonely.</p><p>“What are you doing here, friend? I can’t remember the last time I saw somebody else.” Dandelion asked, holding his hands together behind him. “Are you just like me?”</p><p>Putting his wrist to his forehead, Phoebe thought to himself, his mind was absolutely scrambled. He couldn’t think up an answer.</p><p>“If you don’t remember, that’s okay too.” He gave a warm smile. “Come here, I wanna show you something!” Dandelion flipped around and happily hopped towards the tree. Phoebe, a little taken aback by all the sudden changes, stood there for a moment trying to piece together his thoughts. He knew how he got here, well, he knew how he got to the gate. He had no idea where he was. Something about the flower boy was endearing and trustworthy, so for now Phoebe ignored the potential danger, following Dandelion behind the tree.</p><p>Placing his hand on the tree, he looked round to where Dandelion had hopped over to. Just behind the tree, sat neatly on the grass was a few books, a few watering cans of various sizes, a basket of flowers, and a small Polaroid camera. Dandelion was kneeling down against the grass, flipping through one of the books as the shade of the tree loomed over him. From a glance, each page was filled with photos taped to the paper, about 6 per page. </p><p>Phoebe stepped closer, kneeling down beside Dandelion, who gave a quick glance towards him before looking back in the book. Each page was filled with beautiful, high-quality photos of individual flowers, the fields, the tree, the sun, or Dandelion himself, always smiling in each picture. Though, every few pages there would be empty spaces for photos to go. There was still tape on the paper for if they were there.</p><p>“This is my photo album! I take pictures of things that are important to me.” Dandelion said, looking over each page with a nostalgic smile on his face. “Each picture has a little diary entry for my day.”</p><p>“Why are some of them missing?” Phoebe asked, pointing to one of the empty spaces.</p><p>“Hmm… They must’ve fallen out, that can happen sometimes. I have to search for them soon, I always put my pictures in order.” Dandelion replied, absentmindedly reading through the pages. “Oh! Also!” Dandelion placed the book open on the grass, then turned towards Phoebe, reaching close to him. The sudden movement startled him for a moment, but all Dandelion did was grab the zipper of his coat and unzipped it, moving over to help pull his arms from the sleeve. “You’ll burn in that coat. It’s way too warm here for clothes like that.” Dandelion neatly placed it at the base of the tree, sitting in front of Phoebe.</p><p>“O-Oh, thank you…” Phoebe replied, taken aback from the sudden intrusion into his personal space.</p><p>“It never rains here. Not that I’ve ever seen it… Is it nice?” Dandelion looked into his eyes curiously, awaiting an answer.</p><p>“You’ll have to find out… Some people love it, some people hate it. It’s really cold.” Phoebe answered, thinking about his journey before he arrived here. He hated it.</p><p>“Aww,” Dandelion sighed, disappointed. “I love the warmth. I’d be happy to at least experience it once.”</p><p>Without rain, a question sat in Phoebe’s mind. “If it never rains, why are all the plants so alive?” This place was a massive contrast to the city he ran through. So much rain yet essentially no flora besides small dry plants spaced across flat, barren land.</p><p>Dandelion looked out to the fields and the flowers, watching them softly sway with the warm breeze. “I water all of these flowers every day. The grass is okay if you leave it alone, but I water all the flowers I can see whenever I need to.”</p><p>Phoebe looked out in awe, looking over the possibly hundreds of flowers he could see just from the tree, all colourful and perfect. “…All of them?”</p><p>“Mhm!” Dandelion replied happily and casually, despite the arduous task he apparently does every single day. “The watering can never seems to run out. Each day, I take hours watering all of them. They’re my friends, I take care of them.”</p><p>Phoebe sat there astonished, watching the flowers move gently through the tall grass. “That’s… Wonderful. How do you do it?”</p><p>Dandelion took a regular yellow dandelion out of the basket of flowers, holding it ever so carefully and gently between his fingers. “It is? It’s all I’ve ever done. I’ve never been tired of it. I’d hate to see my friends go hungry.” He dropped the dandelion into the palm of his hand lifting it up to eye level. “Hey there, little buddy…” He spoke softly to the dandelion, like a mother trying to calm down a baby. Of course, it didn’t reply back, but Dandelion seemed satisfied nonetheless. The flower boy brought it back down, glancing over to Phoebe. “Hold on, let me do something…”</p><p>Phoebe let out a small “Huh?” before Dandelion took his free hand and gently grasped Phoebe’s arm, pulling it closer to him. “Hold still.” He said with a soft smile. Dandelion let go, letting Phoebe’s arm stay in the air. He took hold of Phoebe’s hand, tapping it to gesture him to open his palm. When he did, Dandelion rolled the dandelion into his hand, then gently closed Phoebe’s palm, placing it in his grasp. “There. Don’t let go of it, now.”</p><p>“…What’s this for?” Phoebe asked, bringing his arm back to him and letting the top of the dandelion sit outside of his hand.</p><p>“Whatever you want. He’s yours, now.” Dandelion replied, sitting with his hands open against the ground.</p><p>“Oh, thank you... It’s lovely.” He wasn’t too sure what to do with the dandelion, but he kept it in his hand, taking care not to damage it in any way.</p><p>Dandelion smiled over at him. “I’m glad you like it!” He said with a short laugh.</p><p>Looking down at the dandelion, another question hit Phoebe’s mind. “How old are you?”</p><p>“Six thousand, eight hundred and thirty-six days!” Dandelion replied surprisingly quickly.</p><p>“Huh- What?” Phoebe’s mind immediately hit a block.</p><p>“How old are you?” Dandelion said back innocently, like he hadn’t just done anything incredibly bizarre.</p><p>“Seven… Seventeen years.” Phoebe answered, dumbfounded.</p><p>Dandelion looked confused, looking him up and down. “You look way older than seventeen.”</p><p>“I-I do?” Phoebe was at a complete loss.</p><p>“Of course you do! What’s a year?” The question hit him like a tiny bullet train flying straight through his heart.</p><p>“It’s every twelve months.” Dandelion shook his head, no idea what that meant either. “Every four seasons?” Dandelion shook his head at that, too. “Three hundred and sixty-five days.”</p><p>“Ah, yeah! I know days!” Dandelion replied, feeling proud of himself.</p><p>“…How do you know how old you are?” Phoebe asked, his mind full of questions now.</p><p>“That’s how long it’s been since the first picture I’ve ever had of me.” He opened another one of the books, looking to the first page and pointing to a very small looking Dandelion wearing some kind of flower-pattern pyjamas and sleeping on the floor. Next to the photo was small writing which just said “&lt;---- Me!” with love hearts drawn around it in pencil and a tiny date which Phoebe couldn’t make out.</p><p>Phoebe took a moment for himself, still strung up on the age discussion. Taking a small while to think as Dandelion kept a confused eye on him, he finally came up with an answer. “You’re… nearly nineteen years old.” This short, gardener, sweet-looking flower boy was somehow nearly two years older than him. It wasn’t that bizarre, but something about it just felt wrong.</p><p>“Sure!” Dandelion replied, accepting the answer quite quickly. “Hey, look! The sun is going down!”</p><p>Phoebe looked to the sky, seeing the orange horizon slowly come into view as the sun fell slowly. “Oh yeah… It looks really pretty.”</p><p>“It’s always my favourite part of the day. Watching the sun drift away and seeing the stars fade into view. Tomorrow, I’ll be one day older than I was today, and I’ll get to see all my plants again.” Dandelion looked content as the night slowly broke through the light. Stars very quickly began to form. More stars than Phoebe had ever seen. He’d forgotten that past the light pollution of the city sat an entire universe above his head. Seas of stars and lights flashed through the sky. The universe sat illuminated, and there was nothing more beautiful. Though, one thing bothered him. He wasn’t an expert in planets and astrology, but he’d heard that in the darkest places of Earth, you could see planets and galaxies light years away. When he looked up… There was only stars. Not that he couldn’t see or notice them, there was a sense inside him that told him that there really wasn’t any planets in the sky. Dandelion’s mysterious world was the only one out here.</p><p>Taking him out of his trance, a white light filled Phoebe’s eyes for just a moment, as he looked to the source of the light to find the Polaroid camera pointed straight at him. Dandelion had leaned close to him, put on a bright smile and took a picture of the two together while Phoebe was distracted. As the darkness came back, a little photo fell from the camera, lightly drifting to the grass before them. Dandelion quickly yet carefully grabbed it, cheerily flipping to the newest page of his photo album and pulling a roll of tape from his pocket.</p><p>Using his teeth, he cleanly ripped a few lines of tape from the roll with the precision of someone who had done this thousands of times before. Dandelion neatly placed the photo into the book, quickly taping it to the paper, just like all the others. “There!” Exclaimed Dandelion, happily. “Our first memory.”</p><p>“Wow…” Phoebe looked at the book sat in front of them. It was the first photo on that page, and while the lighting was a little off, it was a very high-quality picture, like he was looking at a mirror.</p><p>“It’s getting really dark… Do you know how to get home?” Dandelion asked, looking over to him.</p><p>“I… Don’t know yet.” Phoebe stood up, looking out to the dark surroundings. It was almost impossible to see too far away from the tree. Weirdly enough, the tree and the small area around it wasn’t as dark as the land around it. It was like a big nightlight, dimmed for comfort.</p><p>“How about the place you got here from?” Dandelion suggested, staying sat on the grass. The gate had vanished previously when he had first entered, but maybe it was back. </p><p>“I’ll go find out…” Phoebe replied, and Dandelion turned away to fix his flower crown. An idea popped into his head, there was one last thing he wanted to do. Phoebe picked up one of the watering cans, walking around to the other side of the tree. Without making a sound, he snuck up on Dandelion, who had taken his flower crown off for the moment.</p><p>“Hey! That’s cold!” Dandelion yelped as soft lines of water fell onto his head. Phoebe quickly stopped pouring, letting out a small smile. “What was that for?” Dandelion asked, uncomfortable from the cold feeling.</p><p>“That’s rain,” Phoebe replied. “Or at least the closest thing to it.” Phoebe planted his hand on the top of Dandelion’s wet hair. In his grasp, he could feel it already drying. “I wanted to show you how it felt.”</p><p>Dandelion looked at the droplets of water falling from his head and dissolving into his shorts in awe. For Phoebe, it looked like there were sparkles in his eyes as he felt the cold on his head quickly dissipate. Soon, it was just the warm hand of Phoebe felt in his hair. “Thank you…” Dandelion said, fascinated by the new feeling.</p><p>Phoebe lifted his hand, placing the watering can back down. He gave a small wave to Dandelion, who returned the wave with an expression mixed with astonishment and happiness. “I’ll see you again soon, I hope.”</p><p>“That would be lovely!” Dandelion replied cheerily, putting his flower crown back on. “Goodbye, friend Phoebe!” He said with a bright smile.</p><p>Phoebe met him back with his own smile, but it was nowhere close to the shining sun that was Dandelion’s smile. Phoebe could only wish his smiles could be as big as that. “Rest well, Dandelion.” </p><p>Phoebe walked to the back of the tree, spotting the path from before. Flowers had suddenly grown to line the path, filling it with colour. The flowers gave off a small, blue glow, like the gentle glow of a laptop at night. Phoebe walked between them, unable to see anything over the horizon. The surroundings were a pitch black, but Phoebe didn’t feel in danger at all. It almost felt unsettling, as if the flowers were keeping him calm to ignore any incoming danger.</p><p>In the distance, he finally saw it. The metal gate. Intertwined with red roses and thorns and an uneasy abyss between the bars. Approaching it, he turned around one last time. Past all the darkness, Phoebe saw Dandelion waving to him from far away. He couldn’t see it, but he could bet there was a wide smile on that gentle face of his. Phoebe gave a final wave back, before turning to the gate. Compared to the entirety of this world, the gate gave a sense of fear. He couldn’t feel it before because he was attracted to the scent of flowers, but now he was in the world, he could feel the unease and discomfort given on by the gate. Hesitantly, he reached out towards the gate. Phoebe’s hand trembled slightly as it grew closer to the gate.</p><p>Suddenly, in the depths of the night, everything went black. It didn’t feel like black, however. It felt like nothing. There wasn’t black, there was nothing. The world had ceased.</p><p>The air was filled with a loud, annoying ringing sound. Phoebe’s body shot right up. His hands grasped the covers tightly in surprise. He found himself in bed, the sun shining through the window onto his face. Panting, out of breath, a cold bead of sweat on his forehead, he moved his hand over to hit the alarm clock on his nightstand. It took a few moments to regain his composure, but there was a strange feeling of exhaustion in his body.</p><p>Was… Was everything all a dream? He couldn’t believe that it didn’t happen. Everything felt so real. Though, at the same time it was all completely supernatural. Phoebe deeply wished it had all happened, but everything pointed away from it. Why was he in bed and not on the street?</p><p>Phoebe shook his head, his mind in a daze. Pressing his fist into his head, he noticed something in his palm. It fell to the bed, in perfect condition. The dandelion his new friend had given him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fun fact: Yes, Dandelion is heavily based off of Basil from OMORI. Design and possibly personality, just without all the trauma. Like a mix between headspace Basil and real Basil. If you don't know who Basil is, he's the fella in my profile picture (as of right now.)</p><p>This story idea came from a prompt I found online: "A waft of something flowery washes over your main character as they jog down the street. They turn and follow the scent to someone dancing in the middle of the street to no music while reading a book."</p></blockquote></div></div>
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